US6927756B1 - Apparatus and method for controlling an electronic presentation - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus comprising a first device and a bus interface. The first device may be configured to present one or more control signals in response to one or more input instructions. The bus interface may be configured to (i) receive the one or more control signals and (ii) provide power to the device.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to presentation devices generally and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling an electronic presentation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Giving presentations can be an anxious experience. The anxiety level of giving a presentation can increase when the presentation is given electronically (e.g., using a personal computer running a presentation software package such as PowerPoint or other presentation software).

To a presenter not thoroughly familiar with the operation of the presentation software, it may not be intuitive how to perform the basic task of advancing to the next slide. For example, in PowerPoint advancing to the next slide is accomplished by pressing the left mouse button, or one of several keyboard keys. Inadvertently pressing the right mouse button or other keyboard keys can ruin the presentation by backing up, or worse, exiting the PowerPoint program entirely. Such an error can lead to a flurry of activity, where the presenter often must ask a member of the support staff (or worse the audience) for assistance in resuming the presentation. Such an interruption disrupts the presentation flow and embarrasses the presenter.

Conventional approaches to minimizing errors during a presentation include accessory devices that have been designed and built to attempt to make delivery of an electronic slide show smooth and foolproof. An example of such a device includes wireless remote controls that use an infrared beam similar to a TV remote control. These devices usually attach to the PC through a serial port, and require special “driver” software to translate commands from the port to emulate keystroke or mouse commands that are recognizable by the presentation software. The driver software limits the use of such devices to pre-prepared computers, on which the driver software has been installed. In addition, these devices tend to be complex, to allow many options. Therefore they present a whole new set of “learning curve” challenges to the presenter, and thus may defeat the goal of being simple and foolproof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a first device and a bus interface. The first device may be configured to present one or more control signals in response to one or more input instructions. The bus interface may be configured to (i) receive the one or more control signals and (ii) provide power to the device. One aspect of the present invention may include a program configured to either advance or retreat through a plurality of slides in response to the one or more control signals. Another aspect of the invention may include a second device configured to (i) run the program and (ii) communicate through the bus.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include implementing an apparatus and/or method that may (i) present simple options to the presenter (e.g., advancing to the next slide of an electronic presentation), (ii) eliminate the presentation of complex options that have the potential for misuse to the presenter (iii) connect to any PC (or Macintosh) without the necessity of pre-installing driver software, (iv) be capable of “hot-plugging” into a computer (e.g., if a spur-of-the-moment decision is made to use the control, the control may be plugged in and activated without re-booting the computer), and/or (v) provide feedback to the presenter in a non-obtrusive manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention implemented in the context of a personal computer environment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the operation of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring toFIG. 1, a perspective view of adevice100 is shown in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Thedevice100 comprises ahousing102, a number of pushbuttons104a-104n, acontrol circuit106, acable107, avibrator assembly108 and aconnector110. Thehousing102 generally contains the pushbuttons104a-104nand internally contains thecontrol circuit106. Thedevice100 may be implemented as USB (Universal Serial Bus) peripheral device. Thevibration assembly108 may be implemented with a small motor and may be configured to vibrate when power is applied. Thedevice100 may be attached to a host computer, such as a PC or Macintosh, through theconnector110. Theconnector110 may be, in one example, a USB connector that may draw power from a bus such as a USB bus. Thevibrator assembly108 may be of the type commonly used in pagers and cell phones. While thedevice100 has been described generally in the context of a USB environment, thedevice100 may be implemented in the context of other environments that may be appropriate to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation.

Thedevice100 may provide a simple control that may avoid the presentation of complex options to the presenter. Thedevice100 may, in one example, provide one or more control signals that may control the advancing or retreating of the next slide of an electronic presentation software package. Thedevice100 may avoid the requirement for complex instructions that may have the potential for misuse. Thedevice100 may be connected to a computer (such as a PC or a Macintosh) and may operate without the necessity of pre-installing driver software. Thedevice100 may have the ability to “hot-plug” into the computer. The ability to hot-plug thedevice100 may enable spur-of-the-moment decisions since thedevice100 may be plugged in and activated without re-booting the computer.

In one implementation, thedevice100 may provide feedback to the presenter in a non-obtrusive manner. For example, if the presenter wishes to know that the next slide is available (there can be a significant delay between slides, particularly if the slides are rich in graphics and require long disk accesses), thedevice100 may give the presenter unobtrusive feedback when the next slide is fully loaded and ready for presentation. In another implementation, if an assistant wishes to help pace a presentation by alerting the presenter that time is running low, an indication may be given by having the assistant press a key on the keyboard of the presentation computer. If an assistant presses the CAPS lock key (e.g.,key206aor any other predefined key) thevibrator assembly108 may be activated, inconspicuously alerting the presenter.

Referring toFIG. 2, a more detailed diagram of thedevice100 is shown implemented with acomputer200. Thecable107 may be implemented, in one example, as a standard USB cable. Thecable107 may connect thedevice100 with thecomputer200. To operate with thedevice100, thecomputer200 must generally be equipped with a USB port or other appropriate port.

Thecomputer200 may have aUSB port202, amouse203 and akeyboard204. Thekeyboard204 may have a plurality of keys206a-206nand anLED208. In one example, theLED200 may be implemented as a “CAPS lock indiction light”. However, theLED208 may be implemented as any type LED in order to meet the criteria of a particular implementation. A Page-Up (PgUP)key206band a Page-Down (PgDN)key206cmay be implemented to control an electronic presentation program. However, alternate keys may be implemented to control the electric presentation program. Thecontrol circuit106 may contain firmware code that may be written to accommodate any of keys206a-206n. When the user is running a presentation program on thecomputer200, tapping the PgDN key206 may advance to the next slide and tapping thePgUP key206cmay go back (e.g., retreat) one slide. One hazard of using thekeyboard204 to control the presentation is that if the user inadvertently holds down thekey206bor thekey206ctoo long, an “auto-repeat” function of thekeyboard204 may be activated. The auto-repeat function may rapidly advance and/or retreat through the remaining slides rather than moving one slide forward or backward. Thedevice100 may prevent the auto-repeat function.

Thecontrol circuit106 may be implemented as a microprocessor that may include, in one example, aUSB port112. Although theUSB port112 may be implemented externally to themicroprocessor106 in some implementations, it may be advantageous in size and/or cost to use a single-chip solution that may contain both themicroprocessor106 and theUSB port112. An example of a dual implementation of themicroprocessor106 and theUSB port112 may be accomplished with the Cypress Semiconductor CY7C63000A microprocessor, the data sheet of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Themicroprocessor106 may include an EPROM (not shown) that may store the firmware that may contain the instructions necessary to operate thedevice100. Themicroprocessor106 may have a number of inputs114a-114nand an output116. The input114amay receive a signal from aforward button104a. The input114nmay receive an input from areverse button104n. Thevibrator assembly108 may be connected to the output116, through atransistor switch120. Because theUSB cable107 may provide a source of 5 volt power, theUSB cable107 may power thedevice100. TheUSB cable107 may eliminate a need for batteries or any other power sources.

In operation, when a presentation program is running on thecomputer200, and the user presses theFWD button104a, the firmware stored in themicroprocessor106 may send, over theUSB cable107, data which may simulate pressing the PgDN key206con thekeyboard204. Similarly, when the user presses theREV button104n, the firmware stored in themicroprocessor106 may send, overUSB cable107, data which may simulate activation of the PgUP key206bon thekeyboard204. In this way control of the delivery of an electronic slide show may be provided by thedevice100. As shown in the program flowchart (to be described in detail in connection with FIG.4), theFWD button104aandREV button104nmay provide improved performance over the keyboard buttons206a-206n, since thebuttons104aand104nmay be pressed indefinitely, without the auto-repeating function of the presentation software. An advantage of using theUSB device100 is that thebuttons104aand104nmay operate simultaneously with the keys206a-206n. Such simultaneous operation may allow the presentation software to be controlled from either source or both sources simultaneously.

Thedevice100 may provide unobtrusive feedback to the slide show presenter using the invention by means of thevibrator assembly108. Thevibrator assembly108 may be activated by themicroprocessor106 via thetransistor switch120 whenever a keyboard light (for example the CAPS lock light) is on. The CAPS lock key206aand/or206nmay be pressed by an assistant positioned at thecomputer200 who wishes to alert the presenter that it is time to move on to the next slide. Alternatively, theCAPS lock light208 may be activated in an automated manner, such as by a programmed timer in the presentation program software which turns on the CAPS lock light208 after a predetermined time for each slide. When the CAPS lock key206ais pressed, either physically or under software control, thecomputer200 may turn on theCAPS lock light208 and simultaneously send a message over theUSB cable107. The message may indicate that theCAPS lock light208 is on. Themicroprocessor106 may be configured to interpret such an event and may turn on thetransistor switch120 to activate thevibrator assembly108. Similarly, when the CAPS lock key206ais pressed a second time, thecomputer200 may turn off theCAPS lock light208. Thecomputer200 may simultaneously send a message over theUSB cable107 indicating that theCAPS lock light208 is off, which may cause themicroprocessor106 to turn off thevibrator assembly108.

Referring toFIG. 3, a schematic diagram of thedevice100 is shown. Acapacitor300 and acapacitor302 may provide power supply decoupling. Aresistor304 is generally required by a USB compliant device to indicate the presence of a low speed device. Aresonator306 may provide a time base (e.g., 6 MHz or other appropriate time base) for themicroprocessor106. Aresistor304 may provide base current limiting for theswitch120, which may act as a current amplifier for thevibrator108. Theswitch120 may be implemented, in one example, as a BJT transistor. Aresistor310 may provide current limiting for thevibrator108. Adiode312 may provide voltage protection for theswitch120, a technique commonly used when switching an inductive load such as thevibrator108. TheUSB cable107 may attach to theUSB port110.

Referring toFIG. 4, a flowchart of the operations performed by the firmware code stored in themicroprocessor106 is shown. Thedevice100 is plugged into a USB port at astate400 that may cause astate401 to enumerate thedevice100 as a USB “HID” (Human Interface) device. An example of device enumeration may be found in co-pending applications Ser. No. 08/886,923 and Ser. No. 09/232,578 that are each hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The advantage of enumerating as a HID device is that the device driver to operate the device is generally included as a standard part of the operating system of thecomputer200. A user plugging in thedevice100 for the first time may not need to supply a floppy disk or CDROM with a special driver program.

An endless loop is then entered at thestate402, where a USB bus is checked for activity. According to the USB specification (e.g., USB Specification 1.1, published September 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety), after 3 milliseconds of inactivity, a USB device generally enters a low power suspendstate405. After the suspendstate405, astate406 generally checks for resumption of USB activity. If USB activity is detected the software enters astate407 to resume program execution, re-entering the main loop at thestate403. If the bus continues to be inactive, thestate406 continues to loop, waiting for activity.

If the bus is active at thestate402, thestate403 generally checks the control endpoint for a “SET_REPORT” message, which is generally used by the host to transmit the states of the keyboard lights. If the SET_REPORT message is found, thestate408 generally updates the output bit which activates the vibrator assembly108 (e.g., see FIGS.1-3), and returns control to thestate404. Thestate404 then determines if either of the buttons is pressed, and if so proceeds to thestate409. If no buttons are pressed, thestate404 enters the main program loop at thestate402.

Thestate409 determines which button is pressed where thestate410 sends the Page Down keycode, and thestate411 sends the Page Up keycode. Both thestate410 and thestate411 proceed to thestate412, where the key-up code is generally sent. Transmission of the key down code immediately followed by the key-up code may ensure that thecomputer200 will not auto-repeat.

Themicroprocessor106 is generally programmed to implement the USB “HID” standard such as the Device Class Definition For Human Interface Device (HID), version 1.1, published Apr. 4, 1999, that is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This allows the control to function as a standard keyboard known to the operating system, and therefore the control requires no special driver code to be loaded into thecomputer200. Further, themicroprocessor106 may be programmed to implement a standard keyboard HID function, with the pushbuttons104a-104nacting as the keyboard key normally used to advance an electronic presentation to the next slide. Themicroprocessor106 may be programmed to recognize the command sent to all keyboards which turns on and off the “Caps Lock” or similar keyboard LED. When such an indication is received, themicroprocessor106 generally applies power to thevibrator assembly108 and thus unobtrusively alerts the presenter whenever an assistant at the presenting PC keyboard presses the Caps Lock (or similar) key. Themicroprocessor106 may also be programmed to activate thevibrator assembly108 on an automated basis (e.g., when the next slide is available for display).

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the present invention may incorporate a laser pointer that may also be powered along with thedevice100.

Claims (31)

1. An apparatus comprising:

a housing having an upper surface;

a first button disposed in said upper surface and configured to generate a first instruction;

a first device (i) disposed within said housing and (ii) configured to generate one or more first control signals in response to said first instruction, wherein said first control signals consist of signals dedicated to advancing through a plurality of slides presented by an electronic presentation program;

a resonator (i) disposed within said housing and (ii) coupled to said first device; and

a bus interface disposed within said housing and configured to (i) present said one or more first control signals and (ii) provide power to said first device, wherein said first device is configured to operate according to a standard device driver provided in an operating system and said apparatus is configured to connect, in addition to a mouse and a keyboard, to a second device configured to run said electronic presentation program.

2. The apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising:

a second button disposed in said upper surface and configured to generate a second instruction, wherein (i) said first device is further configured to generate one or more second control signals in response to said second instruction, said one or more second control signals consisting of signals dedicated to retreating through said plurality of slides and (ii) said bus interface is further configured to present said one or more second control signals.

3. The apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein:

said second device is configured to communicate through a cable coupled to said bus interface.

4. The apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein said first instruction and said second instruction are generated by a presenter.

5. The apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein said first instruction and said second instruction are generated in response to said first button and said second button, respectively, being pressed.

6. The apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein said first device is configured to advance and retreat through said plurality of slides one slide at a time.

7. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said bus interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus interface.

8. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is configured to communicate via a wireless link with said second device.

9. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is configured to control said electronic presentation program simultaneously with said keyboard and said mouse.

10. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said second device comprises a computer.

11. The apparatus according toclaim 10, wherein (i) said bus interface is configured to be hot-plugged to said computer at any time, even while said computer is running and (ii) said apparatus is immediately available for use without re-booting or re-powering said computer.

12. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is configured to operate without user-installed driver software.

13. The apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising:

an alert indicator disposed in said housing.

14. The apparatus according toclaim 13, wherein said alert indicator comprises a visible indicator disposed in a surface of said housing.

15. The apparatus according toclaim 13, wherein said alert indicator comprises a vibrator disposed within said housing.

16. The apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising a laser pointer.

17. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said apparatus is configured as a handheld device.

18. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is configured to enumerate as said standard device.

19. The apparatus according toclaim 18, wherein said first device is configured to enumerate as a human interface device (HID).

20. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is further configured to implement a standard keyboard human interface device (HID) function.

21. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device does not generate signals representing movement of said device or any of an x displacement, a y displacement, an x position and a y position.

22. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said first device is further configured such that said first device cannot inadvertently exit said electronic presentation.

23. A method for controlling an electronic presentation comprising the steps of:

(A) providing a first device comprising (i) a housing, (ii) a first button disposed in a surface of said housing, (iii) a control circuit disposed within said housing and configured to generate one or more first control signals in response to said first button being pressed and (iv) a resonator disposed in said housing and coupled to said control circuit, wherein said one or more first control signals consist of signals dedicated to advance said electronic presentation through a plurality of slides presented by an electronic presentation program and said device is configured to connect, in addition to a mouse and a keyboard, to a second device configured to run said electronic presentation program;

(B) providing power over a bus to said first device; and

(C) operating said first device according to a standard device driver provided in an operating system.

24. The method according toclaim 23, further comprising the step of:

providing a second button (i) disposed in said surface of said housing and (ii) configured to generate one or more second control signals in response to said second button being pressed, wherein said one or more second control signals consist of signals dedicated to retreat said electronic presentation through said plurality of slides.

25. The method according toclaim 24, wherein said one or more first control signals advance said electronic presentation by a single slide only and said one or more second control signals retreat said electronic presentation by a single slide only.

26. The method according toclaim 23, wherein said method is implemented using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus interface.

27. The method according toclaim 23, wherein said first device is further configured to not interrupt said electronic presentation.

28. The method according toclaim 23, wherein said first device is further configured to not generate signals representing any of an x displacement, a y displacement, an x position and a y position.

29. The method according toclaim 23, further comprising the step of:

eliminating the presentation to a presenter of complex options that have a potential to disrupt a flow of said electronic presentation.

30. An apparatus comprising:

a device consisting of (a) a housing configured to be held in a hand of a presenter, (b) a first button and a second button disposed in a surface of said housing, (c) a control circuit (i) disposed within said housing and (ii) configured to generate one or more first control signals when said first button is pressed and one or more second control signals when said second button is pressed and (d) a resonator (i) disposed within said housing and (ii) coupled to said control circuit, wherein (i) said one or more first control signals and said one or more second control signals are dedicated to controlling advancement through a plurality of slides presented by an electronic presentation program and (ii) said control circuit is configured to communicate through a bus with a standard device driver provided in an operating system; and

a computer configured to (i) run said electronic presentation program and (ii) communicate through said bus, wherein said computer simultaneously controls said electronic presentation program in response to said device, a keyboard and a mouse.

31. The apparatus according toclaim 30, wherein said device is configured to connect to said computer in addition to said keyboard and said mouse.

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